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Speaking Of Sports
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Speaking Of Sports Obviously, the title gives away my age in Saturday Night Live years. I kind of missed the original SNL team with the brilliant John Belushi, the late, very great Gilda Radna (and the Tang toast), Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. It was the second coming of SNL with Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy that I remember watching the most. But, I have digressed, as I am prone to do. It is not easy typing at sixty words a minute and thinking at approximately sixty thousand words a minute; which is only slightly less than the speed my youngest was talking at this weekend (oy vay). Synapse to fingertip connections are not operating at full capacity this weekend. So, what is happening in the sporting world right now that has me all a flutter: what isn’t would be a much quicker answer. ********************************************************************************************************************************** NHL There is more than a good chance that my underachieving New York Rangers are going to play (and subsequently crash out of the playoffs to) _Safira’s beloved Washington Capitals. Hopefully, and perversely, perhaps the Rangers will live down to my expectations and lose to the Flyers today (heretical statement that it is) and qualify as the eighth place team instead and subsequently crash out to the Bruins. This will leave _Saf’s Caps free to do all kinds of unspeakable things the Montreal Canadiens while allowing me to shrug my shoulders with a c’est la vie attitude. Of course, the Bruins against the Canadiens is one of the classic NHL match ups and always produces great drama. Most of all, I do not want to have to listen to _Saf crow (and she is very good at it) as she is one of those equally passionate and obnoxious East coast sporting fans that seems to thrive in the DC, NYC, Philadelphia triangle of sporting hate. But seriously, the NHL playoffs is the very best of all the playoffs and is always the cause of six weeks of tiredness in the Fallic household as games go two or three or four overtimes, upsets always seem to occur (although I am not planning on my Rangers creating any), and star players, like cream, always rise to the occasion. And do not forget what, to me, makes the NHL the best of all of the leagues: there is no kissing between the rival stars. In fact, the two best players in the league, Aleksandr Ovechkin of the Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins equally brilliant superstar Sidney Crosby are not only heated rivals, but have an absolute loathing for each other that borders on murderous. This creates an incendiary atmosphere when the two teams go against each other and would make for a brilliant conference final. They will not be meeting at center ice for a kiss a la Magic and Isiah Thomas. However, my pick for the Stanley Cup this year has to be the Washington Capitals. ********************************************************************************************************************************** NBA When _Safira came to visit me in February, she gave me the gift of two good tickets to a Blazers game. These have become like gold in this town: they are like Willy Wonka’s golden tickets. And, best of all, the tickets placed me and one of the Junior Wingmen dead center of a group from the Spanish Consulate who were loud, rambunctious, and ardent in their support for Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez. They came to the game with the complete European soccer ensemble of Spanish and Catalan flags to wave, scarves to hold over their heads and songs extolling the virtues of Spanish athletes in all sports and also, much to the delight of my fluent Spanish speaking , in bed. They sang and danced throughout the entire game. The Blazers are not the JailBlazers any more. Thanks to a ground swell of fan reaction to what was the nastiest, most belligerent, shameful excuse of a team ever to grace the NBA, the team was basically returned to the status of expansion team as just about every player was unloaded and what turned out to be an amazing group of rookies was drafted and traded for. The coach was told that he would be given the time to create a team in his image, and he was given a General Manager who makes trades with the skill of a bazaar stall holder. (Honestly, if he starts asking any other GM in the league about a player, that GM should immediately sign that player to a long term contract.) Personally, I have a man-crush on Brandon Roy. He has single handedly rescued the Blazers, recharged the franchise, and maybe even given the NBA a lift. He is the best team player to arrive in the league since Magic Johnson. Even though he is a very good, rapidly becoming great, individual player, it is the fact that his presence on the court makes every other player so much better. Best of all, he is a role model, wants to be a role model, and understands that he is a role model. He was a four year college player who graduated from a prestigious academic school. He is erudite in his interviews, often talking about matters far removed from the sport. He is quiet and unassuming, yet his teammates will follow him anywhere he leads. And he leads by example. The Blazers are in the playoffs for the first time with this group of players and the city is buzzing with anticipation. I am realistic about their chances this year. I think they are still two years away from really going after the NBA title with a vengeance. Anything after the second round is a bonus, to whet the appetite of the fans for the years ahead as this amazing group coalesces into something that could really revolutionize the NBA game. My pick for the NBA title (and it galls me to say this) is the Lakers. But my interest will end when the Blazer’s season ends - and a Portland / LA conference final would be, at best, a toss-up since the Blazers seem to really match up well with the Lakers. ********************************************************************************************************************************** EPL The Junior Wingmen maintain that Manchester United will win the Premier League. And I see that happening, but Liverpool and Chelsea have suddenly made it very interesting. I have not taken a look at the schedule for the run in to see who has to play teams struggling to avoid relegation. Relegation is a concept that is uniquely un-American. It revolves around the core belief that if you suck, you get what you deserve, rather than first choice of the best players, and the team exchanges places with one of the top teams from the division below them. Where this really affects the title chase is the fact that the teams struggling to “stay up” play like hell against anyone and everyone in their path: especially against the top teams. Champion’s League The top four teams in the EPL are in the last eight in this knock out competition which is made up of the cream of the crop from all of the European soccer leagues. How a federation’s teams have done in recent competitions decides how many teams can be entered. England has been one of the most successful and qualifies four teams. Results in the quarterfinal stage are going to have a major effect on the title race in England and will form the basis of one of my potential shocks. FA Cup This knockout competition is now at the semi-final stage and features three of the four teams still alive in the Champion’s League along with sixth place Everton. My picks for these competitions are: EPL Liverpool (unless Man U gets eliminated from the Champion’s League by Porto on Wednesday) CL Chelsea over Arsenal in the final in Rome (followed by the Chelsea and Arsenal fans uniting to demolish the Roma and Lazio “Ultras” who will try to disrupt the match. Even if the Italian riot police try to intervene, I have to give it to the English fans. FA Cup Arsenal over Manchester United. MLS And should anyone wonder about the MLS, I have put down my deposit for two 2011 Portland Timber season tickets. And since the fledgling MLS franchise will enter the league at the same time as the Vancouver Whitecaps, a long developed rivalry that has been in effect since the days of the NASL and has carried on in the A League will continue. Seattle got its MLS team this year, the Sounders, and is a revelation to the league. I recently tried to get some tickets for any game this year and every game was sold out. Hopefully, the team will open up more sections of Qwest Field so that more people can go. I am going to have to call a good friend who plays for the team and beg some tickets off of him. By the way, the ticket prices were really reasonable and may well be a contributing factor to selling out the season. But more than anything else, a soccer team selling out every game for the season is a big deal for American sports. And anyone who watched the first game of the season, saw something truly European as the fans were singing and dancing the whole game. Drew Carey, owner and knowledgeable soccer fan, is creating something very special. It is hoped that the Timber’s Army can respond in kind and, along with Vancouver, create a devil’s triangle for soccer in this part of the world. My pick for MLS Champion is the Seattle Sounders: why not? Kasey Keller is providing leadership from his goalie position. They have a good coach. They have a great owner. They have the best player in the league (for the one year that they will have him) in Freddie Montero. And then there are the twenty seven thousand fans throwing a major party in the stands. And those lime green uniforms have to have a shock impact on the opposition - possibly the worst uniforms in any sport? And at some point, that number will only grow since they are undefeated, and there will be demand, if not outright begging, for more tickets to be made available. ********************************************************************************************************************************** Golf Tiger is back and golf is suddenly interesting again. Now, I know that Tiger is going to need most of this year to really come back from having his right knee rebuilt. But the reason that I find him to be so intriguing and so fascinating is his mental strength. Even though he has brought athleticism to golf (JW #1 thinks that he has the best body in sport) and he is built like an NFL safety, it is his drive and his will to win that make him so superior to anyone he goes up against. I think he will win one major this year: the British Open. However, even as I write this, he is shooting up the leader board at the Master’s (and there is something incredibly satisfying about someone who is both black and Asian winning at the most outrageously Anglo of locations.) ********************************************************************************************************************************** Now I am not a baseball man, so I will not touch on that: although I do believe that _Saf’s Nationals were eliminated from playoff contention sometime late last week. And I have not touched on other sports that I really enjoy such as lacrosse (final four for the NCAAs is Memorial Day weekend) or NASCAR (where did all those rabid fans suddenly go?) rugby or pigeon racing (it’s really hard to get those little<b> spandex </font></b>shorts on their little pigeon legs). For a great show on the ethos of rugby watch Dhani Travels The Globe on the Travel Channel and see how an NFL player does as a member of a rugby team (solid as a player, and very well as a team mate). His picture graces this post. So, all in all, this is a sporting time of year. There will be late nights, maybe crying from the Junior Wingmen as their beloved Man U suffers a late season let down (ffs, they have already won three trophy’s this season), more trips to the pub for the various cup finals in Europe, a playoff beard to grow (or I should say in the case of the Rangers, a playoff five o’clock shadow), various and sundry Blazermania parties to attend since I am not foolish enough to even believe in the possibility of finding a playoff ticket, and the omni-present quest for some Sounders tickets. This, along with trying to stay gainfully employed, should keep me out of mischief for the next few months ‒ but then again ....  |
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Just wait until I'm out there on Independence Day, MATE.  / *hugs* /  This is my blog - [blog _Safira]. There are many like it, but this one is mine. RECOMMENDED READING: A F F The Only Site For Me
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Just wait until I'm out there on Independence Day, MATE. / *hugs* / L
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